On his way to work at Travel Lite Industries in New Paris, Ind., Dustin Johns each day drives by a pastoral setting at the corner of U.S. Highway 6 and State Route 13 in southern Elkhart County.
“I always thought it was a beautiful area, but also a strategic one with its location right on U.S. 6,” says Johns, the 36-year-old president and majority owner of Travel Lite.
That setting has become home to the new “Syracuse 6 & 13 Technology Park,” a state of Indiana certified shovel-ready industrial site; and Travel Lite and its affiliated businesses will
become its first occupants.
For more photos and additional exclusives, pick up the August 2017 issue of RV PRO.
Johns’ $5 million-plus investment in 27 acres and four buildings is the result of record growth for the family-owned builder of truck campers and lightweight travel trailers. The two new factories, corporate office building and RV dealership – scheduled to open simultaneously in the first quarter of 2018 – can’t come too soon for Travel Lite, as it surpassed its entire 2016 record sales performance by the end of May and was behind filling dealer orders, Johns says.
Travel Lite is literally bursting at the seams at its leased acility in New Paris, a small town located southeast of Goshen.
The new facility in Syracuse will comprise four buildings with room for future expansion:
• One building will be a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for Travel Lite RV’s Rayzr, Super Lite, Extended Stay and Illusion truck campers and lightweight Express, idea and Falcon travel trailers.
• The second, a 12,000-square-foot custom fiberglass shop d/b/a Next Level Components, will provide Travel Lite products such as countertops and front caps at the outset and similar products for outside customers at a future date.
• The 6,500-square-foot corporate headquarters will feature reflective glass, nice street lighting and LED lights lining the roofline. “It will be a nice modern touch,” Johns says. “It’s really going to be sharp.”
• The fourth building will house the Indiana RV dealership for Travel Lite and, as of yet, unnamed outside brands. The facility will feature three 50-foot, full-service bays with a fulltime fiberglass repairman on duty.
The three businesses will become subsidiaries of Innovation Inc., a company Johns created and now owns.
Johns hired Ace Builders from nearby Nappanee to build the complex. At the time of this interview with RV PRO, Johns hoped ground would be broken by late July. He plans to have the new production facility up and running before discontinuing production at the leased facility in New Paris.
Travel Lite Starts as Truck Camper Maker
Johns’ father, Larry Johns, founded Travel Lite in 1998 as a truck camper manufacturer and didn’t add lightweight travel trailers until 2011. As recently as 2015, truck campers represented about 65 percent of its sales volume; the remainder came from its fledgling travel trailer business. That mix has reversed itself since then, as the RV maker’s aerodynamic Falcon lightweight travel trailer has gained plenty of traction in the marketplace.
Overall, Travel Lite has increased its output from about 15 units per week to 35 units per week, according to Johns.
Still, Johns says Travel Lite remains a major player in the niche truck camper business and stands no less than No. 3 – trailing only Forest River’s Palomino RV and perhaps Lance Camper, based upon his own internal monitoring. Statistical Survey’s count put Travel Lite as No. 4 through March with a 4.3 percent market share (see related story on page 48). He estimates the company has seen about 20 percent growth in the camper market over last year.
Johns says Travel Lite became known as builder of the lightest weight truck campers with the most options in the half-ton market.
Its superior fit-and finish and two-year warranty (most competitors offer just a one-year warranty) became the icing on the cake.
Its reputation as an innovator, especially in taking weight out of truck campers, continues.
Last fall, Johns unveiled the Travel Lite Air, a hard-sided, non-slide short and super shortbed truck camper targeting half-ton trucks.
“The Air weighs 1,120 pounds and retails for $12,268. It’s the lightest weight, hard-side truck camper any production camper manufacturer makes – period,” Johns touts. He says the Air “has taken off very well for us.”
Johns calls the Rayzr “an offshoot of a bunch of inquiries Travel Lite has fielded over the years” about making a truck camper as light as possible. He came up with a basic floorplan that weighs less than 1,000 pounds and retails for less than $7,000.
“It’s not a massive volume piece, but it fills a niche,” he explains. At the other end of the spectrum is the Illusion, “the crown jewel of Travel Lite’s fleet.”
“It’s by far the most loaded unit we build,” Johns says. “Features include an enclosed basement, large TV, keyless entry, gel-coat exterior and molded front cap.”
“It a perfect unit for people going on long trips,” he adds. For 2018, he’s taking weight out of the Illusion and lowering the MSRPs by around $5,000. He says both moves will make Illusion even more competitive in the entry-level half-ton market. MSRPs start around $24,900.
In between units are the Super Lite – Travel Lite’s leading volume unit over the past five years – and the Extended Stay. The Super Lite is available in weights between 1,080 pounds and 1,385 pounds.
Every floorplan fits either a long bed or short bed without modifying the camper. The 625 and 770R are the best-selling models.
MSRPs start at $12,900.
Meanwhile, Johns calls the Extended Stay Travel Lite’s old school model. “It’s what got Travel Lite on the map and it still remains very popular for us,” Johns says. Features include a larger refrigerator, wider body, molded front cap and a shower.
MSRPs start at $14,900.
Even in the niche truck camper market, builders build different models to appeal to the full range of customers. Smaller units appeal to hunters and fishermen who go out primarily on weekends, while the larger models appeal to RVers who take longer trips and are on the road for several weeks or even months, like trips to Alaska, he says.
“We’ve gained market share in truck campers as we continue to push the half-ton market,” Johns says, but quickly adds, “We’ve had a real success in travel trailers, too. The launch of the Falcon F-20 has pushed the relocation.”
The F-20 is a 2,480-pound (dry weight) single-axle, nonslide wet bath trailer featuring a queen-size bed, solid-surface countertops and tempered glass cabinetry.
Johns needed to build 10 truck campers and trailers a day to meet dealer orders, but was limited to building just six a day as of June; 40 percent of the backlog was truck campers.
Good Things Ahead
For 2018, Johns is renovating the entire Travel Lite line, modernizing the cabinet style and doors, updating the front cap, modernizing all interiors, adjusting countertops and adding tinted glass.
Johns says he’s done it all “without a single price increase to reflect what we put into the product.” All 138 of his dealers should appreciate that accomplishment.
Johns will unveil 2018 models during the Elkhart County Open House Week in September. He has secured a high-profile display site at the corner of C.R. 17 and C.R. 6. He will display new truck campers as well as the Falcon travel trailers. At the National RV Trade Show in Louisville later this year, he plans to unveil a new, 30-foot travel trailer.
Johns says he is ahead of where he thought Travel Lite would be at this time. He says the culture at Travel Lite is good, meaning he likes his workforce. He tells them to “build the product like it was going to be made for your mother.”
They respond accordingly.
Pay is good and the work is steady: orders supported five-day-a-week production schedule 90 percent of the time – even through the winter, over the past two years, Johns notes.
He names Lance, Palomino and Arctic Fox as his main competitors, but senses that every truck camper manufacturer that made it through the recession is doing well now.
After a sluggish 2016, business in Canada has resurged, too, he notes.
The non-North American business remains strong. Travel Lite has found sales in faraway places such as Iceland (three dealers), Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea.
“I feel good about the prospects for the truck camper market and for my personal investment. It couldn’t be a better time,” he says.
He says the move will help Syracuse regain some of the 750 manufacturing jobs it lost due to the recession.
“Anybody in this region will have a good opportunity to get a good-paying job,” he says. Travel Lite’s employment will grow from the current 55 to 120 by the end of 2018,
Johns projects.
Johns values being at the right place at the right time and maintains his move to the Syracuse industrial park will yield the innovative products the market is looking for.
By planning for future expansion at the park, Johns says he’ll have room to someday build fifth wheels, RUVs and even small Class C’s.
Johns received what he calls “generous” tax incentives from the state of Indiana to expand his business. He also credits the town of Syracuse for its cooperation in planning his expansion in the new industrial park. The town got a state law changed to allow it to annex the industrial park, even though it is located 1.2 miles from the town’s northern limit.